Part Seen Part Imagined - Charles Rennie Mackintosh
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Description
A 1896 watercolour by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, featuring a profile figure surrounded by geometric floral motifs and symbolic imagery.
Part Seen Part Imagined, created by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in 1896, represents the distinct visual language of the Glasgow School. This work displays the artist's interest in combining organic forms with rigid, geometric structures. The composition features a female figure in profile, framed by a circular halo of pale green. Above her, a series of small, owl-like motifs are arranged in a linear sequence, while the lower portion of the image is dominated by elongated, vertical stems and floral elements that appear to grow from a base of horizontal lines.
Mackintosh employs a restrained colour palette, relying on muted tones of ochre, soft green, and deep violet to create a sense of atmospheric stillness. The lines are precise and controlled, reflecting his background in architecture and his preference for disciplined design. The work avoids traditional perspective, opting instead for a flat, decorative arrangement that prioritises symbolic meaning over realistic representation. The title itself suggests a duality between the physical world and the internal realm of the imagination, a common theme in late nineteenth-century Symbolist art.
This piece is characteristic of Mackintosh's early graphic work, where he experimented with the tension between natural growth and mechanical order. The verticality of the composition draws the eye upward, connecting the grounded floral motifs to the ethereal, circular form surrounding the figure's head. By integrating these disparate elements into a unified design, Mackintosh creates a visual narrative that remains open to interpretation. The work is a clear example of his ability to synthesise diverse influences, including Japanese woodblock prints and the linear aesthetics of the Arts and Crafts movement, into a singular, personal style.
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Each print is produced to order using 12-colour giclée printing on FSC-certified archival paper. Designed in Britain and printed at your nearest production hub to reduce waste and speed up delivery.
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Specific Features
Every Solis piece is made to order with archival, gallery-quality materials built to last.
- Museum-grade giclée printing for rich, fade-resistant colour
- Archival matte fine-art paper, FSC-certified
- Multiple sizes and framing options available
- Frames in black, natural wood, dark wood or white
- Framed prints arrive ready to hang
Care & Cleaning
To keep your artwork looking its best:
- Dust gently with a soft, dry cloth
- Avoid prolonged direct sunlight
- Never use liquid cleaners on the print or canvas surface
- Keep in a dry, room-temperature space
- Handle prints with clean, dry hands
Materials & Sizing
Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
Part Seen Part Imagined - Charles Rennie Mackintosh
Artist Biography
Charles Rennie Mackintosh
He was the fourth of eleven children, seven of whom survived infancy. His father was a police superintendent. The boy was probably dyslexic, struggled badly at school, and used sketchbooks to manage what appear to have been emotional difficulties. He had a contracted sinew in one foot that gave him a limp, and childhood rheumatic fever left one side of his face permanently drooped. None of this stopped him drawing.
He enrolled at Glasgow School of Art at fifteen, studying part-time while apprenticed to the architect John Hutchinson. In 1889 he joined Honeyman and Keppie, where he would remain for nearly two decades. He met Margaret Macdonald in 1892. Together with her sister Frances and Herbert McNair, they formed a group that became known as The Four. Mackintosh and Margaret married in 1900. He acknowledged publicly that Margaret had genius where he had only talent.
His greatest commission was the Glasgow School of Art building itself, won in competition in 1897. The library wing, completed in 1909, is considered one of the finest interiors of the twentieth century. He designed all four tea rooms for the entrepreneur Catherine Cranston, going so far as to specify the waitresses' dresses and order the flowers. In Vienna, at the eighth Secessionist Exhibition in 1900, his work was received with an enthusiasm Glasgow never matched.
His style fell from favour. He drank. He was asked to leave his firm. In 1914 he and Margaret moved to Walberswick in Suffolk, where he was briefly arrested as a suspected German spy because of his Vienna correspondence and unusual manner. He was released without charge but effectively driven from the village.
In 1923, they moved to Port Vendres in the south of France. The light and landscape revived him. He painted watercolours of the surrounding hills and harbour with an obsessive attention to geological detail, completing around forty before returning to London for the last time.
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